Critters
by KamikazePyro
Summary: Something I wrote years ago about Critters. It's got a nice storyline I think. Although it's not all that detailed, it's still pretty good, so enjoy! The Gremlins part will play into it near the very end.
1. A Single Egg

CRITTERS 5: "They're back."

After destroying a farm in Kansas; after terrorizing a small town; after attacking an apartment building in Los Angeles; after blowing up a whole space station; a single egg floated in the vacuum of space.

"I think we found something, sir!" a voice crackled over an intercom in space.

"What is it?" a different voice said. "Tell me now!"

"Gee, I wonder what it could be!" an astronaut excitedly exclaimed.

"I think it's an egg, dummy," someone responded sarcastically.

A spaceship sent from NASA to retrieve information about their space-center hovered near the wreckage of an old satellite no longer needed. It was on a simple mission: find out what happened to the space-center that had mysteriously blown up. Inside the ship, six astronauts sat at a dinner table in a small room, while three others mended the controls. General Hawkins, the leader, sat at a control station watching the retrieval of the egg they had found floating in the distance of space.

While inside the ship, the egg remained frozen in an incubation chamber. It was being specially cared for by the doctor on the ship.

"We're approaching the Saturn Quadrant, sir." Captain Mitchell stared out the window toward a large asteroid in the distance. It was unusual to see such a large asteroid near Saturn. "Should we engage?"

"No! We're going back to Earth now. I think our little find is enough to get at least three weeks off. Now, let's get this rust-bucket back home!" General Hawkins exclaimed. He peered through the window at the egg that was just sitting there, motionless.

"Heading back to Earth!" the captain said, pressing a yellow button. He whispered, "I wonder what's in that egg. If it's something good, I could give it to my friend; he'll pay big bucks for it. I'll be rich before I'm forty!"

The spaceship turned around and headed towards Earth.

Back on Earth, General Hawkins shouted, "What!? We found this thing in space and you don't even care? I can't believe this! Man!"

"General, please calm down. The reason is I know what's inside of it. And before you ask, you don't want to know." The chief in command sat at his desk tapping a pencil and sipping coffee.

"What is inside, sir?" the general asked. His voice sounded shaky.

"You ever hear of a place called Grover's Bend?" the chief asked.

"Yeah, the town that got attacked by aliens. So what?"

The chief pointed to the egg and pulled up his glasses.

"Oh," the general said with a loud gulp. "So what do we do with it?"

The chief was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he said with a smile on his face, "What do we do, you ask? Well, we destroy it tomorrow. We can't let it live!"

In the hall next to the chief's room, Captain Mitchell leaned against the door, hoping to hear what the general and the chief were discussing. He couldn't hear anything. The chief was a kind of man who liked his privacy; with sound proof doors and walls, barred windows, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in his closet for anyone who decided to mess with him when he's in a bad mood or try to rob him.

It was 10:00 p.m., time for the chief to head home for the night; the perfect time for Captain Mitchell to sneak in and steal the egg from outer space. The chief left his office and walked down the hallway towards the parking lot. Captain Mitchell took a paper clip and picked the seven locks on the chief's door. When he got in, he looked for the egg and a few extra bucks. He looked all over the office but couldn't find the egg. He finally found a safe and knocked open the locks on the door; opening it and taking the egg. The egg was warm and slimy with bumps on it. It was in the shape of an oval and was brownish-green. He knew it was a big risk if he got caught, but if he got it to his friend, he'd be rich. He closed the safe door and rushed out of the office, forgetting to lock the door.


	2. First Kill

The next morning, Captain Mitchell drove up his friend's driveway and walked up to the door.

DING-DONG! The bell on the door rang loudly.

"Hello!" the captain's friend opened the door with a big smile on his face and a milk mustache. "What's up?"

"Have I got something for you!" Captain Mitchell said as he held the egg out in his hand.

"What is it?"

"It's an egg from outer space!" Mitchell said.

"Really?" said his friend. "Wait a minute, are you tricking me?"

"Does this look like an egg from Earth?" said Mitchell as he held the egg closer to his friend's face.

His friend looked down at the egg closely and squinted. He looked at Mitchell, then at the egg, and then at Mitchell again.

"Well, my friend, looks like you just got yourself pretty rich," Michael, Captain Mitchell's friend, said excitedly.

"Great, when do I get the—" Mitchell began as he was cut short.

"That is, of course, if it is a real egg from space," Michael interrupted, taking the egg from his friend. "I'll take care of it until you figure out if it's really from space. Got it?"

"Whatever," said Mitchell as he walked to his car and drove away. "I'll be back later!"

Inside Michael's house, he put the egg on his kitchen table and rushed away to watch TV. The egg, sitting on table, began to bump around. It bumped until it started to crack open. The baby Critter cracked its egg open and crawled away towards the cupboards full of food.

Michael returned to the kitchen ten minutes later. He looked for his peanut butter sandwich; shuffling through papers on his table, and throwing things off the counter. He moved to the table to look, but then he saw the egg, cracked open and green ooze dripping off the edge of the table.

"What the…?" He looked at the egg with a disgusted look. He moved towards the ooze, poking it with his middle finger and smelling it. "Holy crap! That is some terrible stench!!" He washed off his finger and his hand.

WRAARTHWRA! The cupboards rattled as something moved within them.

Michael turned around and looked at the rattling cupboards. He grabbed a steak knife and moved forward, towards the cupboards. He got closer and closer until he was only a few feet away from the door.

BAAAM!! The door flew open and a Critter jumped out and started biting Michael's neck.

"AAARRGG!!!" Michael screamed and grunted as he tried to get the Critter off of his neck. He stabbed the Critter with his knife and slammed it into the cabinets.

The Critter roared in pain and finally rolled away with smeared blood on its black fur. Michael fell to ground and crawled to the chair next to the table. He sat down, breathing heavily and covering his wound with a wash cloth.

"Man, what was that thing?" he asked himself. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, anyone there?"

"Hello? This is Critter Park security. Who is this?" someone answered on the other line.

"My name is Michael, and I seem to be having a big problem over at my house wi-with some creature that I got from a friend. I really need your help."

"What's your address?" the security man answered.

Michael exhaled deeply and said, "Um, I live in Grover's Bend obviously, on Grover Road. I'm in Apartment 201, okay?"

"Alright. We'll be right over, sir. Just stay calm and relax. And find a safe place to hide until we get there." The security man hung up.

"Okay, find a safe place. Okay, I can do that," Michael said with a soft voice. "I know…the bathroom! Yeah."

Michael got up and started walking towards the bathroom. Right before he got to the bathroom, he stopped and walked towards the living room. He looked around the room for a moment, and then kneeled down. Taped under his desk was a small pistol with three bullets. He grabbed the pistol and made his way towards the bathroom door.

RARRAAR! Before he could reach the door, the Critter lashed at his stomach. He took out his pistol and shot at the Critter, but missed. The Critter kept chewing on his intestines until, finally, Michael fell to the ground. He pulled at the Critter's deep, black fur as he tried to get it off, but had no luck. He tried to grab the pistol but the pain was too much. His blood spilled out all over the floor. He grunted in pain when he finally realized that the Critter he stabbed earlier wasn't the same as the one attacking him now. The Critter attacking him now was smaller. There were two Critters now; the Critter he attacked earlier must have had an egg.

The Critter began chewing deeper and deeper until Michael was finally dead, then rolled towards the door and broke right through it. Then the Critter that was attacked earlier rolled behind the other one, out the door.


	3. More Attacks

Later, back at NASA, the chief was furious. The egg was gone.

"What happened to it!!?" the chief yelled. "Who took it, who?"

"Ahem. Chief, I think we might have found your egg, I mean what's left of it at least." A Critter Park security man stood at the doorway. He was wearing a dark blue coat with C.P. printed on it.

"You did? Well, where is it?"

At Michael's house, the chief and a bunch of Critter Park employees walked around, looking for the egg. What they found was Michael's dead corpse.

"Man, what happened to him?" the chief asked. He looked closer at the body, and then spotted something. It was a tooth. "Oh, no!"

The chief bent down and picked it up.

"What's that?" an employee questioned. He squinted at it with suspicion.

"Look's like a tooth," the chief answered, studying it closely.

"Sir, we found the egg." Another employee entered the room and squinted at the tooth with suspicion.

The chief, along with the employee, walked into the kitchen and saw the remains of the egg, ooze still dripping from the table. The chief picked up a piece of the egg and sniffed it.

"Whoa! That is some bad stuff, man!" The chief pulled it away from his face and put it on the silver tray next to the counter.

"Boss, we found another egg!" an employee shouted from in the basement.

"That's odd," said the chief. He had a concerned look on his face.

"What's odd?" asked the security man.

"I only had one egg," replied the chief.

"Sir, a lady down the street said she saw two porcupine-like creatures tearing up her garbage." An employee ran in from the back door.

"All right, as of now, you are all working for me to find these things!" the chief shouted so everyone could hear him. He snorted and then walked to the front door.

The next day, the Critters rolled to a nearby daycare to nest and find food. As they rolled past the back door, a kid spotted one and started screaming for the teacher. The Critters had to find a place to hide, so they broke through a tiny window and landed in a basement – their favorite place.

"What's the matter?" a teacher asked, picking up the kid.

"A-A Critter," he kid said, still crying.

"Aww. You probably saw a raccoon, honey. Let's go have a snack," said the teacher.

In the basement, the Critters looked around and smiled. They started talking in alien language but stopped when they heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Hello?" a teacher said, walking slowly. "Anyone down here?"

She walked slowly as she approached the broken window. Then she started walking back towards the stairs when a Critter jumped out and startled her.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed with horror in her eyes. She couldn't move; she was too scared.

"What's the matter down here?" the manager of the daycare ran down the stairs.

"Help me!" yelled the teacher as she started crying softly.

"Somebody help down here!"

The Critter opened its mouth, with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth and sharp claws on both hands and feet. It roared and then rolled up into a ball and started rolling slowly towards the frozen teacher.

Two more teachers came downstairs and a couple of kids followed. The teachers started to panic and the kids didn't know what to do. Then the other Critter, bigger and meaner, walked up behind the kids, trapping them in the basement; the kids were frightened.

"Hey, what's going on down here?" a taller kid started walking down the stairs with two other big kids. "What the heck?"

"What the heck are those things?" said Max, the third big kid.

"They're Critters," said Bruce, the second big kid. He stared at the Critters' deep, black fur and dark red eyes with rows of teeth in their mouths.

"Critters!" Dick, the first big kid, said as he stepped forward. "I thought they killed those thing years ago!"

The Critter snarled at the kids as it moved closer to them. Dick stepped back and said, "This is what we talked about last year, remember? I'll stay here, you get the weapons."

Bruce nodded and ran back upstairs along with Max. Upstairs, Bruce and Max shuffled through the toys until they found three big sticks with points at the end.

"Good, now let's kill some Critters!" howled Max. He ran back to the stairs to see everyone still there; no one dead.

Dick, Bruce, and Max all grabbed a stick and carefully started down the steps. The Critters snarled and growled as they got closer to the kids, like they were going to attack. Dick got to the bottom and walked to the other side of the basement without being attacked by the Critters. Max followed while Bruce stayed by the stairs in case the Critters tried to get away. Max slowly approached the Critter with his stick clutched tightly in his hand. He started to sweat and his palms were getting sweaty, too, as he got closer. He'd never actually seen a Critter besides at Critter Park, but those Critters were robotic. Dick stood calmly next to the wall, watching Max walk towards the Critter.

The Critter snarled and opened its mouth wide, showing off its teeth. Bruce stood still—he was next to the bigger Critter, who stared at him with a sneaky look.

"Max, be careful. You don't want to get too close or it'll attack you," Dick said.

"Yeah, like it's not going to attack in a few seconds," Max replied. He stared at the Critter's eyes with a nervous look. He got closer until he was only a foot away from the Critter's dangerous mouth. Max could smell its breath from where he was standing. It was nasty!

Max stood still, then took his spear and jabbed it at the Critter. The Critter dodged and roared at Max. It snarled again, and then rolled up. Long, black spines stuck up on its back.

"Max, watch out!" yelled Dick as he stepped forward.

The Critter shot a spine at Max and hit directly in his neck. Max yelled like he was just stung by six bees and fell on the ground. Dick rushed over to him and pulled out the spine. Max's skin was puffed out where the spine had been. Dick took his spear and whacked the Critter straight across the room! The other Critter was rolled up and ready to attack when Bruce hit it, knocking it a few feet away.

Bruce stared at it as it started to get back up and yelled, "Everyone, back upstairs!" Dick grabbed Max and walked back up the stairs while Bruce stayed behind the group to guard from attack. The Critters growled and rolled away into an opening in the vents.


	4. A Plan

Upstairs, Dick barricaded the basement door with the snack table and whatever else he could find while Bruce guarded the vents. Max, barely awake, watched out the window for the Critters.

VROOMM!!! The lights, clocks, and TV's went out. And a minute later, the phones went out. The Critters had chewed their way through the electrical box downstairs.

"Darn those things!" Dick said walking into the room. He sat on the floor next to a kid and crossed his arms.

"What are we going to do?" asked the teacher holding a small child.

"I don't know yet," Bruce said. "But the first thing we have to do is arm ourselves and set traps."

Dick stood up and walked over to the basement door, then said, "That won't hold them for long, especially if they have more Critters. And they can get in through the vents."

"Man, I feel so stupid," said a teacher standing up.

"What for?" asked Bruce.

"Earlier this morning, a kid said he saw a Critter go past the back door," the teacher replied. "I should've believed him, but I was too stupid to even go look to make sure."

"It's alright. You didn't know. None of us could've known until it was too late," Dick said, relieving the teacher. "Anyway, we have to go set up traps. Who's going to help me?"

Dick and two older kids walked out of the room to set traps while everyone else stayed behind. A half an hour later, Dick and the two other kids returned. Bruce set his weapon down and walked over to Dick.

"So what kind of traps did you set?" he asked, wanting to know.

"Deadly ones," Dick answered. "I'm not going to show any mercy to them after what they did to Max."

Max finally woke up and walked over to Dick and Bruce and said, "So do you think we can kill these things?"

"Maybe."

Back at the chief's office, Critter Park security worked hard to find the Critters.

"Any luck yet?" the chief said pacing back and said.

"Nope."

"Hey, let me see that tooth," said the chief taking out a microscope from his desk.

"What is it?" asked the employee.

"It looks like we have ourselves a real, live Critter here," the chief said.

Dick, Bruce, and Max grabbed their sticks and looked at the basement door.

"Ready?" questioned Dick. He wanted to kill the Critters so badly. "Bruce, stay up here and guard. Max, you come with me!"

"Alright! I'm going to kick some Critter butt!" Max said cheerfully. "Bruce doesn't get to go! Haha!"

"Don't make me shove this stick up—" Bruce began.

"That's enough fooling around! We have to kill these things now, or we might not get another chance!" Dick said. He took down the table and the other things he had used and slowly opened the door.

"Wait, why should you guys go?" asked one of the kids. "It's not fair!"

"We've studied these things," Dick said. "We know what they're doing down there."

"And besides, I don't think you would want to go down there by yourself, right?" Bruce added.

"Yeah, kid, you wouldn't want to go down there all alone. Stay up here," said Max, grabbing the child's hand.

"Okay," the kid said, sighing.

Dick and Max started down the stairs with a determined look. They carefully went down one step at a time, watching the vents as they went by.

"Okay, Max, this is it," Dick said. "We have to find the backup generator and turn it on."

"Cool."

Dick stepped lightly to the floor and looked for the Critters. Max followed behind with light feet, too. As they turned around the corner, they saw the electrical box, all chewed up, wires zigzagged. There was no sign of the Critters anywhere. Max stepped forward, but as he did, he made a loud crunching noise that echoed.

"What was that?" Dick asked.

"How should I know?"

As they got closer to backup generator, it seemed as if something was watching them. They peered through a glass covering with the backup generator behind it.

Max saw the glass door, and next to it were two levers – red and blue.

"Which one do I pull?" Max asked frustrated.

Dick didn't answer. He was standing, turned the other way, just watching. He moved a step forward, then said, "Max, pull the blue one."

"What's the matter?" Max questioned, confused. He looked around, but didn't see anything.

"Around the corner, the Critters are waiting for us."

"How do you know that?"

Dick grinned and said, "Pull the blue one and run like you've never run before."

"What do mean? What are you going to do?"

"Just do it!!" Dick yelled.

Max stepped back and turned around. He grabbed the blue lever and pulled it down as far as it would go. The lights went back on, but nothing else.

"Now what do I do?"

"Now you run like crazy back up those stairs."

Dick moved forward and clenched his stick tightly. Max moved slowly, and then ran as fast as he could up the stairs. The Critters were right around the corner, just like Dick said. They tried to attack Max, but he was too fast. Dick moved around the corner and saw the Critters still looking up the stairs. He moved closer until he could almost hear them breathing.

"Hey, you!" Dick exclaimed.

The Critters turned around and snarled at Dick. Their red eyes seemed brighter than before when they attacked. Then Dick knew that they were different. The Critters from before had more eggs. That meant that while he was dealing with the Critters in front of him, the ones from before could attack anytime they wanted. Dick didn't have a choice now; he was trapped in the basement with two Critters by the door and two more somewhere else.

"Max, what happened?" Bruce asked. "Where's Dick?"

"He's still down there," Max replied, panting. "He said he'd take care of them."

"Dick, you idiot! You know you can't kill them by yourself!"

"Come and get me!" Dick shouted as he ran forward to the critters.


	5. Mysterious New Arrival & Realization

The Critters smiled and rolled at Dick. Dick and the Critters attacked each other as if it were a war.

"Now, you die!!" hollered Dick as he slashed at the Critters. He whacked one Critter and stabbed the other.

The Critters started speaking their own language and rolled into a ball. Their spines stuck up as they moved closer to Dick. They spun around in circles until sparks raged under them. Dick breathed heavily as the Critters spun around in circles. While he was hitting one of the Critters, the other one slashed his arm and his side near his ribs.

"Man, what are they doing?" he asked himself.

The Critters spun around in a circle once more, then charged at Dick, sparks still flying. Dick fell to his knees and dropped his stick. He was going to except his consequence for taking on two Critters at once. As the Critters flew closer to Dick, they opened their mouths wide.

"Dick, don't do it!!" Max shouted as he jumped down the steps.

BOOOM!! The wall to the other side of the daycare blew open with lights flashing. A tall, short-haired girl walked into the basement with a machete hanging by her leg and a big gun that no one had ever seen before. She looked around with an emotionless look, and then looked down at the Critters recovering from the blast.

"Who are you?" requested Max.

"That's not important," she answered. "But what is important is destroying the Krites."

"The Krites?" Max asked. His face looked puzzled for a moment, then surprised.

"The Krites," she demanded. Her face still looked without emotion as she started her way towards Max.

The Critters looked up at the girl and said, "Uh oh!" They rolled up into a single ball and spun away through the vent opening.

"Once again, who are you?" said Max.

"The Krites," she demanded again. "I'm here to kill the Krites."

BOOO!! BOOO!! BOOO!! A small remote on the girl's belt lit up with a red light. She immediately removed the remote and pressed the button, releasing a light blue light.

"Ah, Katie, so you made it to Earth?" A person's head appeared in the light.

"Yeah. And you were right, the Krites did escape."

"So, your name is Katie?" Dick said as he got up.

"Well, I see you've met your new partners," the man said.

"We're not her partners. We don't even know you," Bruce said.

"You must kill these Krites right away."

"What's so special about this batch, Commander?" She asked.

The man was silent, and then said, "These Krites are special because they are smart. Smarter than we had anticipated when we captured them. They broke free from the prison and hijacked the best ship we had. If only we had been more careful, we could have prevented this from happening. They're even smarter than you. They know all of your tricks and what you're going to do next. You have to kill them before they kill you! I wish you good luck on your mission. I'll see you later."

"Wait, what did you mean when you said they were smarter than me?" Katie asked. But it was too late; the commander had disappeared from the light.

"Whoa, that was weird!" said a kid.

Dick walked over, picked up his stick, and said, "You heard what that guy said. We have to kill these things right away."

Bruce walked over to Katie and asked, "So where do you come from? Earth?"

"I'm not an alien. I was born on Earth, but my mother died," Katie explained. "And my father was killed by the Krites two years later. After that, I went to NASA and snuck into a space pod to the Saturn Quadrant. When I landed there, there was another ship a couple yards away. I didn't know what to do, so I climbed aboard and looked to see if there were people onboard. It turns out that there were three Krites on the ship that were captured, and were being taken to a prison nearby."

"So what happened next?" Max asked.

"I'll tell you later," Katie said. She walked over to the broken vent and peered into the dark, square space.

RRRAAWW!! A Critter popped out, jumped at Katie, and started to chew on her belt. Katie grunted as she tried to get it off. Dick, Max, and Bruce rushed over and started to tug at its fur, when it shot a spine at Dick. The spine hit Dick right in the arm and Dick fell on one knee. He pulled it out right away, but as he did, two more Critters shot out of the vent. Katie pulled out her machete and hit the Critter's nose. The Critter roared in pain and let go of her belt. It rolled back into the vent with blood on its snout. Dick crawled back cautiously as the other two Critters growled at him.

"Man, these things are annoying!" Max scowled. He took his stick and whacked one of the Critters in the back of the head. It flew into a wall and rolled into the vent as the other followed.

"Those must be the smart ones," Dick said getting up.

Katie looked at her belt. It was all chewed up. The communicator was fried and the electric bullets were all bent up.

"We can't protect ourselves. I mean, we're totally defenseless." Bruce sighed. His hand pressed against his cheek hard.

"I know what you mean. Even the traps I set won't hold them for long," added Dick. "We have no guns, no food, and even Katie's big gun can't help us. I guess they really are smart."

"Okay, everyone, back upstairs! There's nothing to see here," Dick said. He looked at the vent and sighed. "Katie, you and Max go upstairs and watch the vents. Bruce and I will follow the Critters in the vent."

"Fine, but there's something you should know," Katie said, looking at her necklace. "They'll go for your face, your neck, and your stomach."

Dick grinned and said, "I'll be fine. Besides, I have my right-hand man to back me up."

Bruce grinned slightly and started off to the vent. Dick followed him in. Dick and Bruce both felt the cold, wet, floor beneath their hands. Bruce stopped and took something out from his pocket.

"What's that?" Dick asked.

"A flare."

Down in NASA's lab, the chief and the best scientists were working on figuring out whether the tooth belonged to a real Critter or not. The scientist squinted in his microscope as he saw tiny bacteria on the tooth.

The chief paced back and forth and mumbled, "It's here; it's gonna eat all of us!"

"Chief, please stay calm. Now we don't even really know if it's a real Critter," said one of the scientists sitting on a stool next to the table. He had a long, bushy mustache with gray hair greased back. His coffee cup steamed with the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning.

"You know straight up that this tooth belongs to a Critter! You just don't want to admit it until it's too late! I know how it works. The authorities never believe you until it's all over!" yelled the chief furiously.

"We're done with the test, sir. And I don't think you'll be surprised." A scientist walked into the room with a clipboard and a few papers in his hand.

The chief stared at the other scientist, then walked over and snatched the papers from the man. He looked them over a couple times and snorted. His bright brown eyes seemed satisfied as he showed them to General Hawkins. General Hawkins had the same look in his eyes as he handed them back to the chief.

General Hawkins finally announced, "We have to kill this thing right away! And I think I know where to look." His face glared in the light as he smiled with satisfaction.

"Where?" asked a scientist.

"About an hour or so ago, a lady—" General Hawkins began.

"Never mind that. We have to get some serious fire power!" the chief said.

"No, you don't," said a man walking into the lab. "What we have to do is capture these things and study them."

The chief glared at the tall man with suspicion and said, "I don't think you get it. All these things do is eat and eat and eat and wreak havoc wherever they go!"

"My name's Martin. I'm the head of security at Critter Park and I don't think you get it. You see, at Critter Park, we have robotic Critters. If we had some real Critters, we'd be able to study these amazing things. And not to mention, business would be booming," said the man opening a can of soda.

"Uh, I don't know. I mean, those things are dangerous. And where would you put them? That is, of course, if you even capture them."

Martin looked at the tooth and explained, "We have a special facility downtown. It has bullet-proof windows, security guards at every corner, constant surveillance, and 100 volt fences around the perimeter of the cage—we don't want the animals to die. There's no way those things can get out. And we have a special doctor that'll take care of them if they get hurt."

The chief looked at his watch and snorted. "Will I get paid?"

"Any amount of money you want. That is, if we get the Critters safely to the facility," Martin said grinning.

"Okay, let's go find those things!"


	6. Rescued

Dick and Bruce sat in the vent with the flare in Bruce's hand. Bruce held it tight and ripped off the top, igniting the red flare with bright, red light. He held it up in the emptiness of the vent and started to move on.

While in the vent, Dick could smell something foul. Bruce smelled it too. The smell was so agitating, Dick and Bruce almost turned back. But they urged themselves to keep going.

Upstairs, Max and Katie watched the vents for the Critters. The kids and the teachers were sitting in a secluded area by the wall. Max chuckled and said, "What are we doing? I mean, the Critters are probably doing something else. They don't care about us!"

"Max, what's wrong with you?" asked Katie.

"I'm not caring about the Critters! They don't care about us! I'm gonna get Dick and Bruce and tell them to come back up here," said Max smiling.

BOOMMP!!! BBAAANNGGG!!!! The vents started rattling and the screws started to unscrew and fall on the floor. All of a sudden, the Critters jumped out.

"I guess I spoke too soon," Max said.

"Now what?" asked the teacher.

The Critters growled at Max and Katie as their eyes gleamed in the light. One of the Critters shot a spine at a small kid and knocked him unconscious. It shot another spine and hit another kid. The other Critters snarled at Max and started talking in alien language.

Max asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means spread out!" Katie said uneasily.

The Critters began to spread out like Katie said. It didn't take long for one to hit Max with a spine.

BOOMMP!!! BBBAAANNGG!!! The vents began to rattle again. Only this time, Critters didn't pop out, Dick and Bruce did.

Katie smiled at Dick and said, "I'm glad you're here. You came just in time."

"Well, if someone hadn't taken a right turn in the middle, we would've been here sooner!" Dick said getting up from the fall.

"It's not my fault!" said Bruce. "You're the one who said to take a left at that intersection!"

"Okay, we have to get everyone out of this area!" said Dick.

"I have one last flare. Maybe if I throw it in the other direction, they'll follow it. Then we can get away and go to the attic," Bruce said, taking out his last flare.

Dick looked at the flare and asked, "Where did you get those flares anyway?"

"Old man Frank's place. He's got buckets of them in his basement," Bruce answered lighting the flare. He threw it at the wall on the other side of the room and ran.

Dick grabbed Max and one of the kids, and then ran with Bruce. Katie grabbed the other kid and ran alongside Dick. The other kids and the teachers started running after them. Bruce got to the attic door and kicked it open, allowing everyone to get to safety.

"I think we should be safe up here until someone comes to rescue us," Katie explained. "I mean, someone's gotta be looking for us! Besides, my commander's probably sending backup right now."

"They're in there!" yelled Marlin as he stood outside the door to the daycare that the Critters were terrorizing. He walked around the corner to the back door and noticed the broken window.

The security men burst through the door and started yelled, "Is anyone in here?"

The Critters began to snarl and growl as the security men came closer and closer. The security men peered through an opening in the vent, and then moved on. One of the security men moved ahead and saw the Critters. They were sitting there, just snarling and growling.

"Okay, just stay there. I'm gonna shoot you with a tranquillizer dart and take you to a facility downtown. Just stay there," one of men said, inching slowly to the critters.

Marlin came in the room and said, "Looks like you guys can take it from here. So I'm just gonna go upstairs and take a leak."

BBOOMM!!! Three of the Critters were tranquillized. Then three more. Then three more. Then two more. All of the Critters were sound asleep.

Marlin came back from the bathroom and looked surprised. "I didn't think you'd get all of them! Wow!"

"The specimens have been captured, caged, and are now being loaded into the truck, sir!" said a man in a dark blue suit.

"Hello? Is there anyone out there?" Dick asked coming out of the attic.

"Who are you?!" asked Marlin in amazement.

Dick, Bruce, and Katie emerged from the closet and all said, "Thank you very much for saving us!"

"No problem! Uh, is anyone else with you?" Marlin said.

Dick replied, "Yeah. There's a few teachers, a few kids, and Max is sleeping."

"Why don't you come with me and my men to our lab?" Marlin asked.

"Sure!"


	7. A Foolish Mistake & Escape

At the lab, the Critters were put in a high-security cage just like Marlin said, and Dick and the others were being taken care of.

"How's your neck doing?" the doctor asked, washing off her thermometer.

"Fine," Max responded.

Katie stood up and walked over to Dick. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Dick said.

"That was brave what you did," she said, sitting next to him.

"What?" he asked.

"Taking on two Critters at once to protect your friends," Katie responded. She kissed him on the cheek and walked away.

"Yeah." he replied, blushing.

Marlin sat at his desk, sipping cappuccino and watching the Critters hit the window one-by-one, trying to break it. He knew they couldn't get out. If a speeding bullet couldn't break those windows, a Critter certainly couldn't. But even with all that security, he still didn't feel the safety he wanted to feel. "Guards, keep full look-out on those things! Don't let them out of your sight!"

The men nodded and went back to watching the Critters. The fences and the automated surveillance cameras were online.

"Hey, why did the poop cross the road?" Bruce asked, cutting his steak in the cafeteria. Everyone was sitting down to eat for the capture of the Critters.

"I don't know. Why?" Max questioned, slurping his spaghetti.

"Because something scared the crap out of it!"

Everybody laughed loudly as Bruce told more jokes. The chief came in the lunch room and started talking to the kids. Even Marlin came in and had a bean burrito. Almost everyone was eating in the small lunch room except the guards and the scientists.

"So when do I get paid?" the chief asked Marlin. "And how much?"

Marlin wiped off his mouth and responded, "You'll get paid in an hour or two. And you'll get $20,000 bucks if we get those things to the park. Don't worry."

"I'm taking a break!" yelled a security guard below the balcony of the lab.

"Whatever!" someone answered.

"Oh, man, I'm gonna go to bed. Where are the beds in this place, anyway?" Bruce requested.

Marlin said, "Upstairs to your right, and past the loading dock."

The Critters snarled in their cage as two scientists entered. They took out a tranquillizer gun and shot one of the Critters. As the scientists were leaving with the sleeping Critter, the other Critters tried to get out, but they were shocked by the electrical fencing.

Upstairs in the lab, the scientists put the Critter on a table and began to taking blood samples and pictures. While one of the scientists was taking pictures, the flash from the camera woke up the Critter. It growled and started to attack the scientists. One of the scientists was already dead when the other one was being eaten by the Critter.

The Critter chewed until the man was dead with guts spilled everywhere. Then it laughed and rolled away into the vents.

Downstairs, the other Critters were causing chaos trying to break free.

"Dang it! Those things weren't supposed to be this aggressive!" Marlin exclaimed furiously as the Critters started cracking through the window. The Critters broke out of the cage and began chewing on the fence.

"Shoot those things!! Just save one of 'em!" yelled Marlin.

The wires on the fence began to bend and bust open. The guards frantically shot at the Critters, but there were too many at one time. Two of the guards were dead while the other guards were being attacked. Marlin grabbed a shotgun and a big pistol and raced down the steps to kill the monstrous Critters. He managed to kill one, but the other ones were smart. They tricked Marlin into wasting his ammunition. One jumped on Marlin's back from behind and another one shot at his right leg. He fell to the ground, realizing his end. The other Critters started biting on his stomach, as he could feel his intestines and blood spilling from his body. Blood smeared all over the wall, guts on the floor, and Marlin's lifeless body just sitting there, propped up on the wall.

"Come on guys! Let's go see those things!" Dick said anxiously. He walked over and tugged on the sheets where Bruce was sleeping.

Max got up and started tugging with Dick. Bruce finally rose from his bed and yawned at them. Katie stood by the door waiting for them to come. She could feel something downstairs wasn't right. They all walked down the hall, down the stairs, and to the lab. When they got there, they didn't like what they saw. Lights flashed on and off, electrical wires sparked, and dead bodies laid on the floor with blood and guts ripped out of them.

"I knew they couldn't contain those things for long," the chief said, entering the room with his 12-gauge shotgun.

"What do you mean? The Critters did this!?" Bruce asked with astonishment. His face looked astounded at what the Critters had done to the containment lab. "H-how can this be? I mean, they had full security, electrical fencing, guards, and a special cage, everything you'd need for a Critter!"

The chief and the others were silent. They were looking at Marlin's torn up body.

"You didn't deserve this, buddy. May you rest in peace," the chief said. He took out a medal symbol and put it in Marlin's bloody hand. "I'll see you some other time."

As they moved ahead, they saw numerous eggshells.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" Max said.

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And that's as far as I got those years ago. Hope you enjoyed it at least somewhat.


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